Ministry of Information & Broadcasting
Two-day workshop for a fair and balanced election coverage organised to train DD and AIR correspondents
Kolkata, March 27, 2019
A media workshop for coverage of General Election to 17th Lok Sabha 2019 was arranged in Kolkata today for the district correspondents of Doordarshan and AIR News in West Bengal. This two-day interactive workshop aims to familiarize the Prasar Bharati correspondents engaged throughout the state with the provisions of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 so that strict adherence to the legal provisions and Election Commission’s guidelines is ensured in coverage of elections. The Chief Electoral Officer, West Bengal, Dr. Aariz Aftab addressed the participating correspondents and informed them about the new aspects of the ensuing Lok Sabha election in the inaugural session. The Additional Director General  of PIB Kolkata Ms Jane Namchu along with senior officials of Prasar Bharati in the state also guided the participants about governing principles of election coverage.
Speaking in the interactive workshop, CEO –West Bengal Dr Aariz Aftab said, Election Commission considers media as an important stakeholder of election process as they shoulder the great responsibility of spreading awareness and informing people about various aspects of election. Focusing on the new aspects of the ensuing election to 17th Lok Sabha, he mentioned that VVPATs will be used for the first time along with EVMs in all polling stations with a purpose to enable voters to see for 7 seconds as to candidates in whose name he or she has casted the poll appears or not. Dr. Aftab further stated that the Commission is providing various required facilities like ramps, wheelchairs etc. for persons with disabilities and that Divisional Commissioners will act as Accessibility Observers to check out on these facilities. Referring to the new facilities for citizens, the CEO spoke in details about the complaint filing mechanisms like C-Vigil app, toll free number 1950 and also national grievance redressal portal of the Commission. Through the C-vigil app more than 1500 complaints related to violation of Model Code of Conduct and Expenditure Monitoring has been received and disposed of within the set time-frame. He also informed about the Citizen Training App and sign-language instructions for filling up Form 6 for benefit of various categories of citizens. Responding to a question raised in course of interaction, the CEO informed that new names can be added in electoral roll upto 10 days before filing of nomination, though deletion or revision of names has been stopped from the date of announcement of election. This apart, new instructions that has emerged after General Election for State Assembly in 2016 includes filing of offshore account details and statement regarding being Head OF Hindu Undivided Family in Form 26 for candidates. Besides, this time the candidates will have to give declaration about criminal antecedents also, stated the CEO.
The Additional Director General  of PIB Kolkata Ms Jane Namchu said, district correspondents who are the field-level workers of the public broadcaster are responsible to ensure that no fake news are served to the people. The correspondents act as ‘gateway of news’ and hence can ensure that only authentic news about election process are broadcasted. Echoing the same view, Shri R. Ghosh Dastidar- ADG , AIR and TV, B.K. Das -Deputy Director General  in DDK Kolkata and Smt Anima Das Debnath – Deputy Director General  in AIR Kolkata also reminded the participants that people trust the public broadcaster to serve authentic news and hence they must keep up with this image.
Deputy Chief Electoral Officer Shri Sanjay Basu said, news on election should not be distorted, He also said, DD and AIR News generally serves correct information to the people.
A number of educative news capsules made by DD News on various aspects of election process like VVPATs, Flying Squads, and Participation of Third Gender Voters in relation with this election was shown. In the two day workshop, Deputy Chief Electoral Officer, West Bengal Shri Amarjyoti Bhattacharjee and senior officials of DD and AIR News will discuss various angles of a fair, impartial and adequate coverage of this election.